Uso indiscriminado de medicamentos em animais por tutores do brejo paraibano.

Abstract

The use of medications without prescription from the trained professional, that is, the veterinarian, in pets is determined as animal self-medication, and it can be practiced by animal tutors or by unqualified people. The purchase of veterinary drugs either in agricultural stores/veterinary and human pharmacies, or through family members and neighbors is a frequent practice, however health problems in the animal are potentially witnessed in the veterinary clinical routine when administering medicines in an inconsequential way. Given this fact, as a problematic proposal, this research aimed to identify which are the main groups of drugs administered by tutors from the region from brejo paraibano-Brazil in companion animals, since data from this region is not found in the literature. These datas were collected and analyzed from 89 questionnaires applied and answered through the Google Forms® platform from October 2 to November 9. Of these, 73 met the criteria required by the survey. The results demonstrate that all the participants stated that they have pets, a considerable portion (32.9%) of the tutors have a single animal, accounting for a greater incidence of dogs (78.1%). 49.3% of guardians have already medicated their animals on their own. Concerning to the class of drugs that were most used, the use of vermifuge was observed in greater numbers (84.9%), followed by multivitamins (61.6%), and analgesics (53.4%). It is necessary to elucidate in a more comprehensive way this proposed theme to generate the perception in tutors of possible damages to the animal's health in the scope of indiscriminate selfmedication in situations that involve an incorrect medication and that compromise animal health and welfare, medicines such as vermifuges, when used unnecessarily can contribute to the development of resistance and even select classes of parasites in the long term.